The Wolf Is Fierce and Cautious

After Ying Xiong left, no specter tried to snatch the cart from Zhao Yi anymore.

He bent over, searching under the scorching sun nearby.

"Strange... I clearly threw it here just now..."

Zhao Yi stroked his chin, a curious glint flashing in his eyes.

It didn't make sense, a thumbtack... disappeared?

After a quick glance around, he refocused his gaze on the pile of rust mixed with foot skin.

The blood had completely dried under the baking sun.

The thumbtack, originally smooth enough to reflect sunlight, was now rusted.

It blended completely with the rust pile, and its original shape had been altered by the rust, twisted into a small lump of scrap metal.

"Ordinary rust doesn't change the shape of the original item."

"So the change in the thumbtack's shape happened during the rusting process."

"If rust can change a thumbtack, does it mean it can also change other... things?"

The thought quickly flashed through Zhao Yi's mind.

The sun overhead had shrunk considerably. Taking advantage of this, Zhao Yi quickly pushed the cart to the edge of the lawn and began collecting rust grass.

The rust fragments were sharp, so Zhao Yi didn't grab them with his hands. Instead, he took out Old Liu's Property Deed.

This thing was quite tough, and the rust couldn't cut through it.

He filled up a cartload.

Turning towards the steel melting room, Zhao Yi quickened his pace.

The sun overhead reappeared after a brief cloud cover.

That melting sensation resurfaced in his mind.

Zhao Yi sped up into a jog.

His shadow under the sun kept fading.

The emptiness inside him grew stronger!

There were no obstacles along this stretch of road.

But Zhao Yi ran fast, and when he entered the steel melting room, his shadow was barely visible.

Just faint.

However, Zhang Ming behind him wasn't so lucky.

Although his speed wasn't slow, he miscalculated the distance and didn't abandon his cart in time to run to the shade and recover, causing his shadow to completely melt under the scorching sun, disappearing without a trace...

Zhang Ming was sweating profusely, pushing his cart to the edge of the lawn, not seeking shelter by the wall first.

He had already noticed his shadow was gone.

The emptiness engulfed him.

But aside from this intense emptiness, there seemed to be no other adverse effects.

So... it seemed not following this rule...

Wasn't a big deal?

Zhang Ming suppressed the emptiness inside, continuously loading rust grass onto his cart.

He wanted to complete his task as soon as possible, so it wouldn't affect his excellent employee evaluation.

Earlier on the road, seeing Zhao Yi sprinting with a cartload of rust grass made him anxious!

Too competitive!

Even a human was so competitive, what reason did he, as a specter, have not to work hard?

Soon,

A specter responsible for weeding in the distance fixed its gaze on him.

That specter seemed to have seen something strange, patted a colleague next to it, pointed at Zhang Ming, and whispered.

Gradually, more and more specters turned their gaze towards Zhang Ming.

Only then did Zhang Ming, under the spotlight, realize something was wrong. He looked up, staring at those specters pointing at him from afar.

"What's wrong with you all?"

"Why are you all looking at me?"

Zhang Ming was puzzled.

But no one answered him.

The eyes of those specters were filled with deep apprehension.

Zhang Ming sensed something was wrong, looked down at his body, and his face changed drastically!

His body... was melting!

Flesh, bones...

Dissolving like soft mud!

Panicking, Zhang Ming finally remembered to seek the shade away from the sun, crawling towards the wall in the distance!

However, after just a few steps, he fell to the ground!

His legs had already rotted into a pile of mud... more terrifyingly, rust spots were appearing on the wounds at a visible speed!

Fear gripped Zhang Ming's heart as he crawled, leaving a long trail of blood under the scorching sun.

Eventually, he reached the shadow by the wall.

But at that moment, the sun above gathered into thick clouds.

The surroundings suddenly cooled down.

Plop—

Zhang Ming's eyeball fell out of his rotting eye socket.

It rolled a few times on the ground, pupil facing the sky.

The unwilling color inside slowly faded, turning into the emptiness of death.

He was dead.

Rust spread, quickly proliferating wildly on his corpse.

During this process, Zhang Ming's body curled up, twisted, and was continuously folded into a bizarre shape.

Just like the thumbtack Zhao Yi had seen earlier.

As if transformed into a corpse.

The vast lawn was eerily quiet.

All the specters stared at Zhang Ming's corpse, lost in thought.

...

"Damn!"

"Bastard!"

"I'll kill your horse!"

"......"

Inside the steel melting room, angry curses echoed.

Occasionally, there were sounds of things being thrown.

Zhao Yi pushed the cart in.

The employee responsible for handling these rust items earlier was even more filled with violent energy.

His eyes were bloodshot, shouting hoarsely, throwing the rust items onto the conveyor belt, cursing the person who had given him the thumbtack.

His thick gloves bulged even more.

And the color of his clothes was fading.

It felt like an old garment washed for decades, the blue turning pale.

Zhao Yi glanced sideways at the wooden cabinet in the distance, the thumbtack on the table was gone.

He silently poured the rust grass onto the conveyor belt.

Then he carefully examined the employee's hands.

His hands trembled more violently, like someone with Parkinson's disease.

Generally speaking, aside from illness, only two situations cause such intense limb tremors.

1. Hormonal changes due to emotions.

A quick look at " will leave you more fulfilled.

2. The weight of the hand is nearing the limit of control.

"Is his hand so heavy because it's rusted..."

"Earlier, he cursed the employee who brought the thumbtack, probably because the thumbtack injured his hand, causing an infection. His hand is likely stuck to the glove and rust, which is why it's bulging..."

"But even if it's rusted, it shouldn't be so heavy that a specter can't control it..."

Thoughts flashed through his mind.

Zhao Yi immediately recalled how Ying Xiong had exclaimed about losing feeling in his rusted foot...

"That's it..."

"Rust, during its growth process, robs living beings of sensation."

"And it keeps spreading."

"And it doesn't cause immediate death..."

Zhao Yi raised an eyebrow.

Spreading.

If that's the case, as long as he cuts fast enough, does it mean he can stop the spread?

But then, new wounds would still grow rust.

Unless... medication is used.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yi licked his lips.

He pushed his cart away, returning to the lawn to continue loading rust grass.

Behind him, the cursing grew more intense, the voice fainter.

...

On the lawn.

Chen Fei returned with Ying Xiong, who had a leg cut off.

"I'm sorry to tell you... once a wound rusts, it can't regenerate."

"As for the cart issue, I'll ask Zhao Yi about it later."

"There's a cart here right now, Zhang Ming didn't follow the rules and died, so you can use his cart!"

Ying Xiong showed a fawning smile, nodding and bowing, starting to load rust grass with his limp leg.

Zhao Yi approached with his cart from a distance, Chen Fei glanced at him and said:

"Zhao Yi, come with me!"

The other specters almost all had gloating smiles.

Especially Ying Xiong and the Delinquent Specter.

This damned human, trying to compete with them for the excellent employee position?

Does he deserve it?

As Zhao Yi walked away, the Delinquent Specter's gaze locked onto the Yellow Hat Specter in the distance, eyes cold.

Daring to speak up for a human... you'll be the next to die!